What does mortify mean?
To mortify someone is to make them feel deeply embarrassed, humiliated, or ashamed. The word often implies that the embarrassment is intense and impossible to ignore: a person might say they were mortified by a forgotten appointment, an obvious mistake, or an embarrassing remark. It is more emphatic than simply feeling embarrassed and often suggests a loss of dignity or composure in front of other people. Historically, mortify also had a religious meaning involving self-denial, austerity, or the deliberate subordination of bodily desires, especially as an act of devotion. That older sense survives in formal religious writing and in the word mortification. Today, the emotional sense is dominant in ordinary speech. The word comes through Old French from Latin mortificare, originally associated with making something dead and later developing both its bodily-disciplining and shaming meanings.
To cause someone to feel intense embarrassment, humiliation, or shame.
"He was mortified by the error on his application."
Common in British and American English; often describes embarrassment strong enough to overwhelm or embarrass the person publicly.
To discipline oneself through severe self-denial, austerity, or self-sacrifice, especially as a religious practice.
"They fasted and prayed, mortifying themselves before the pilgrimage."
A formal, chiefly religious sense that is less common in everyday usage.
Mortify began as a grimly literal word: its Latin ancestor meant “to kill” and eventually came to mean “to make one's body suffer for religious devotion.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does mortify come from?
The word comes from Old French mortifier, which was borrowed from Latin mortificare. Latin mortificare was formed from mors, “death,” and facere, “to make,” and originally referred to making something dead or killing. In medieval religious use, it came to mean disciplining or mortifying the body through fasting, pain, and other forms of self-denial. The modern sense of causing shame developed through the idea of making someone's spirit or dignity feel dead.
Related word forms
How mortify is actually used
In modern general use, the word is usually emotional and describes profound embarrassment or shame. Its older religious sense is more formal and specialized, referring to deliberate bodily or spiritual self-discipline.
Easily confused with mortify
Mortify means to cause shame or embarrassment, whereas mutilate means to physically damage or alter something so badly that its form is spoiled.